KERA NEWS DIGITAL PROJECTS

KERA News Digital Storytelling projects provide an in-depth look at the people of Texas — the crises they endure, the issues they overcome, and the triumphs they achieve.

Journalists of KERA News and Art&Seek document these stories in the long-form style by compiling high-quality photos and videos, compelling audio and interactive graphics as well as rich and informative text to present an accurate and comprehensive report.

Stories.KERA.org will serve as the meeting point for the diverse narratives of Dallas, its surrounding cities and Texas at large. Join the KERA News and Art&Seek teams as they chronicle these stories in the months to come.

Beyond lost wages, missed child support and probation fees, it's difficult to calculate the true cost of spending time behind bars. One thing is clear, though: For offenders and families already on the edge, incarceration can be financially devastating.

Stanley Walington kisses his daughter Honesty, 1. He had been recently released from prison. / Photo: Allison V. Smith

Since KERA launched One Crisis Away in 2013, the North Texas economy has seen tremendous gains. Many, though, have not shared in that success. Here are the stories of North Texans we’ve met throughout the five-year-long reporting project. They’re still working hard to get by, and in most cases, still living life on the financial edge.

Christopher Crowley, 39, walks to the DART station from his home in southeast Dallas, Texas. Photo: Allison V. Smith

Hurricane Harvey and the flooding that followed changed countless lives. Some lost loved ones. Others watched as water inundated their homes along the Texas Gulf Coast, washing away most of what they owned. Thousands of families took shelter in North Texas, Austin and San Antonio. Here are the stories of evacuees who decided to stay, and build a new life in a new town.

West Dallas has been on the financial edge for more than a century. Today, the neighborhood is rapidly gentrifying. High-end restaurants and apartments are crowding out rundown warehouses and weathered rent houses. Hundreds of families who've lived there for generations have been forced to move — many with no place to go.

A view of The Austin at Trinity Green under construction off Singleton Boulevard. Photo/Allison V. Smith

On the day after Christmas in 2015, a dozen tornadoes ripped through North Texas, killing 13 people and damaging or destroying hundreds of homes. KERA has been following four families pushed to the financial edge by the storms. With the holidays approaching, we return to Rowlett and Garland to see how these families are rebuilding their lives a year after disaster.

Kaden Beck, 6, leaps through the window of a wall that the December 2015 tornado took out. Photo/Lara Solt

Life on the financial edge is never easy. During the holiday season, though, fiscal balance can seem next to impossible. Gifts, decorations, parties, travel, kids off from school — the challenges mount almost as quickly as the bills. Meet folks trying to keep their financial footing during the most trying time of the year.

In 2014, Americans watched from afar as the Ebola virus raged through West Africa, killing thousands and threatening millions. Until Sept. 30, when a Liberian man named Thomas Eric Duncan tested positive in a Dallas emergency room. Two nurses were infected before he died. Fear traveled faster, and far wider, than the virus. Explore what happened in Dallas – and the lessons hospitals and governments learned.

A microscopic view of the Ebola virus. Credit/Frederick A. Murphy, Centers For Disease Control And Prevention

Mark Romney leads a small group prayer during a vigil in memory of those who have lost their lives to Ebola and the ones caring for those infected, Thursday, October 23, 2014 at the chapel of Thanks-Giving Square.(Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News)

County Judge Clay Jenkins prays during a faith based organization meeting about the local response to the Ebola crisis at Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas October 29, 2014. (Nathan Hunsinger/The Dallas Morning News)

For kids a half-century ago, a cancer diagnosis was usually a death sentence. Today, eight of 10 children diagnosed with cancer will likely survive. Still, cancer can rob a kid of childhood. Follow the journey of one North Texas boy and his family.

The cost of living poor can be staggering: Racking up interest on a payday loan, working for minimum wage, paying fees to cash a check, and eating healthy when groceries are hard to find. Residents of Jubilee Park in a section of Old East Dallas south of Interstate 30 face these challenges every day -- challenges that the neighborhood is working to solve.

In Texas, one in three children has a parent who’s an immigrant -- or they're immigrants themselves. They have to learn a new language, adapt to a different culture and try to fit into a community that may not embrace newcomers. Follow these first-generation Texans and the educators weaving them into the American tapestry.

When an older person falls and breaks a hip, it’s a moment that changes everything. Not just for patients, but for their families, too.

Falls are the leading cause of injury death for older Americans. One of every five people who breaks a hip after age 50 dies within a year. For those who survive, it means a big life change.

It may mean leaving the home they’ve known for decades and moving into a nursing home or an assisted living facility. It may mean a role reversal: a parent who cared for children for so many years now is the one who needs help. It means tough conversations between patients and their families. It can also bring on financial challenges.